Customer Support and Resolution Tracking 

Funds Distribution Management Application

Sansoft IMS, a provider of highly affordable, data-driven business applications and services, successfully developed custom-built database application for Printroom Inc , Finance Department .

Problem Description
 

The Company provides back-end services to independent photographer and photographer groups, including an extensive store of products (not only photos, but coffee mugs, mouse pads, tee shirts, etc.), fulfillment, and customer service.  The Company provides an online presence (i.e. website) to its customers for selling to end users that includes a customizable ‘cart’.  All money is collected by The Company, who once per month sends its customers a “Profit Check” minus service and product (cost of goods sold) fees.

The Company is a young company backed by financial investors in the way of venture capital firms.  Due to several reasons, including an overly competitive climate, the Company experienced financial difficulties.  As a result, the normal process of distributing funds to Customers (photographers) became increasingly complicated.

Example Scenario:
While the Company normally distributes (pays) all profits (Profit Checks) to its Customers on the 15^th of the month, due to limited funds, the Company is able only to pay some of the Customers, having to choose who to pay.  After months of this, cascading debt at different levels develops.  Some customers are one or two months behind in their Profit Checks, while for some Customers, the Company owes up to six months.  Furthermore, Customer Support is inundated with phone calls from Customers requesting their funds.  With no process in place to handle these new scenarios, each phone call is treated the same, namely with a request on the part of the Customer Support Representative from the Vice President of Finance for payment.

Problem Identification

With no process created for these instances, every call received by Customer Support regarding payment (Profit Check) was presented to the VP of Finance, requesting approval.  This bottleneck was both ineffective and inefficient.  To eliminate the numerous interactions between parties and to empower the Customer Support Representatives, a system for funds approval, payment identification, and ultimately payment and record keeping was required.

Project Definition

The Company required a central database (MS Access), accessible to identified partied with distinct privileges (requester, approver, check printer, etc.)  The Funds Management system must accomplish the following:

1. Allow for periodic (daily, weekly) release of funds available to payment to Customers.  Specifically, Customer Service Representatives would know and could determine on their own, how much was available to pay to Customers and to whom those payments should be sent.
2. Allow Customer Service Representatives to quickly identify outstanding payments due for any Customer who phones.
3. Allow Customer Service Representatives to apply available funds (approved by VP of Finance) to pay any Customer.
4. Allow Check Printer (member of Accounting Dept.) the ability to print identified checks in one batch.
5. Keep accurate records of all communication and transactions.

Business Result and Satisfaction

The project was extremely successful.Hours were saved once Customer Service Representatives no longer had to ask for permission to pay Customers upon the receipt of every single phone call.Additionally, the record keeping and reporting tools created allowed for quick analysis, empowered all levels and stages of the process, and significantly reduced the stressed placed on both the Customer Service Representatives and the VP of Finance.The Company was extremely satisfied and impressed with the solution.